1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for controlling traveling photographing of a camera in accordance with a plurality of photographing parameters.
2. Related Background Art
Cameras capable of being controlled by a computer are commercially available nowadays, and a combination of camera parameters such as posture and zoom is registered as a preset in a camera of this type. A monitor system using such a camera is provided with a function of controlling the camera by sequentially using a plurality of presets. This function is called preset traveling. There is a system which executes an image motion detection process in each preset of preset traveling (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent No. 2548814). This system prevents erroneous detection by inhibiting the motion detection process during controlling a camera.
Various methods have been proposed for techniques of tracking a moving object. For example, tracking control is performed by paying attention to the color and histogram of a moving object (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H11-150676). It is also known that tracking is performed by storing a portion of a moving object as a template, and that tracking is performed by paying attention to a motion vector. An approach has also been proposed in which an image motion is detected in each preset during preset traveling, and if there is a motion, the moving object continues to be tracked (e.g., refer to Japanese Patent application Laid-open No. 2003-255442). This approach provides two camera control modes, a traveling mode and a tracking mode, and traveling control is stopped during tracking.
According to the above-described conventional methods, photographing and motion detection are conducted for all presets. Namely, traveling is performed equally for each preset. Because of this, an efficiency of abnormality detection based on motion detection in a monitor system is low.